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TMA's Legislative Video Vault

The 2013 regular Texas legislative session has ended. Legislators passed quite a few key health care-related bills that are good for Texas patients and physicians.

Watch TMA's Darren Whiteurst, the TMA lobby team, physicians, legislators, and others as they hammer out issues facing Texas medicine. The strength of TMA is each one of you and the relationship you share with your local elected official. As TMA gears up for the next session, you are encouraged to get involved in the legislative process to keep up with what's going on in the Texas Legislature.

TMA Legislative News Hotline Wrap-Up, June 19, 2013

TMALegislative News Hotline: May 24, 2013: As the 2013 Texas legislative session winds down, Texas Medical Association's Legislative News Hotline for May 24, 2013 encapsulates the status of several key health care-related bills, such as streamlining prior authorization forms and other red-tape reduction bills, women's health, and vaccine taxes (TMA's Darren Whitehurst and Steve Levine break it all down); and we recap the numbers of TMA members who testified before the legislature and/or participated in TMA's lobby days, First Tuesdays at the Capitol

TMA Legislative News Hotline: May 10, 2013: This week's Video Legislative Hotline captures the action of TMA's final First Tuesday at the Capitol for 2013 and passage of TMA-supported bills that are now headed to Gov. Rick Perry's desk for his signature.

TMA Legislative News Hotline: May 3, 2013. With just under one month left this Texas Legislative session, this Texas Medical Association report takes stock of looming legislative deadlines and where key health care-related bills stand. TMA Vice President of Advocacy Darren Whitehurst and Vice President of Communications Steve Levine blend status reports on critical bills with a primer on how legislative rules and policy could affect them. Combined, it creates an overview for what to expect in the next few weeks.

TMA Legislative News Hotline: April 26, 2013. This Texas Medical Association report covers: Testimony on two bills that would help teens and adults receive vaccines so they don't get sick and pass illness on to babies (TMA Council on Science and Public Health Chair Jason Terk, MD, discusses these); and another important step forward for a bill filed by TMA physician-member legislator Rep. John Zerwas that would expand health coverage to more of Texas' working poor people.

TMA Legislative News Hotline: April 19, 2013. In this video, TMA covers: Texas Medical Association Trustee Doug Curran, MD's, testimony on a bill filed by TMA physician-member legislator Rep. John Zerwas that would expand health coverage to more of Texas' working poor people (we also hear from Representative Zerwas); a move to speed payments by Medicaid HMOs; progress on a bill that would require people who deliver health care in hospitals to wear I.D. badges; a step forward for a bill that would regulate the practice of "silent PPOs;" and from end-of-life care to tanning beds to graduate medical education, a flurry of bills passed in the House and Senate.

TMA Legislative News Hotline: April 12, 2013. TMA examines: Progress on a silent PPO bill that would regulate companies that apply a physician's contracted rates from one insurer to another without the doctor's permission; potentially weakening the Texas Medical Board's peer-review process, possibly even jeopardizing patient safety and opening the door to bullying; allowing patients more flexibility in choosing doctors, even if their insurance is a government payer; and whether to allow pharmacists to vaccinate children... and the potential impact. Drs. Russell Kridel and Gary Floyd share key points from their legislative testimonies.

TMA Legislative News Hotline, April 5, 2013. The big story is the state budget-- the Texas House passed its version of the spending bill, and we draw a few comparisons to the Senate's view. We also discuss an amendment that would establish conditions if Texas were to consider Medicaid expansion-and what happened with that measure. Also a national expert on physician workforce issues and graduate medical education, Atul Grover, MD, discusses the importance of GME funding in Texas. This report also shares some images from this month's TMA First Tuesdays at the Capitol legislative lobby day, which took place in Austin this week.

TMA Legislative News Hotline, March 29, 2013. This video covers efforts to improve how physicians apply for the permit required to prescribe controlled-substance medications (Richard Benedikt, MD, of San Antonio testified that a new Texas House bill would streamline the process and decrease the risk of a lapse in patient care); testimony on a bill that would give physicians due process when they're under investigation for suspected Medicaid fraud; and a bill under consideration would reduce the taxes doctors have to pay on vaccines they stock for their patients.

TMA Legislative News Hotline, March 22, 2013. TMA reports on: Testimony on a bill that would change some of how the TX Medical Board reviews complaints against physicians; a Senate committee examines two Advance Directive bills; and a look at the Senate's version of the state budget, which it passed this week. In this video we hear from TMA physician leaders Arlo Weltge, MD, and Gary Floyd, MD.

TMA Legislative News Hotline, March 15, 2013. This TMA video report covers Senate action on the state budget (TMA vice president of advocacy Darren Whitehurst and communication vice president Steve Levine break down key health care components); Senate passage of several TMA priority bills including immunization legislation and a red-tape reduction measure; and Janet Realini, MD, chair of the Texas Women's Healthcare Coalition, discusses the impact of unplanned pregnancies in light of the filing of Rep. Sarah Davis' bill to study the effects of the 2011 cuts in family planning funding. March 15, 2013

TMA Legislative News Hotline, March 8, 2013. This TMA video discusses a bill to regulate "silent PPOs," and an example of what happened to one doctor (and we hear from Dawn Buckingham, MD, who testified on the bill); plus this report describes testimony on a TMA red-tape reduction bill that would cut some paperwork; Jerry Hunsaker, MD, relates that he told legislator during TMA's First Tuesdays at the Capitol of the need for increased GME funding; and we discuss the House bill filing deadline.

TMA Legislative News Hotline, March 1, 2013. This report describes movement on an important TMA red-tape reduction bill; notes action on two TMA-supported immunization bills to protect children (as we hear from the TMA physician who had the idea for one of them, Celia B. Neavel, MD); and the video also updates progress on the 2013 supplemental budget bill which will fund Medicaid for the latter part of this 2-year budget cycle.

News of progress on one of TMA's key red-tape reduction bills, featuring comments by Buddy Swift, DO, chair of TMA's Council on Socioeconomics.

Today's TMA Legislative News Hotline host Steve Levine, discusses TMA's take on expansion of health care to Texas' uninsured population, health care coverage for the uninsured in Texas, restoring full health care funding for Texas' most frail, elderly patients; and the first occasion of TMA's Tuesdays at the Capitol for 2013.

Carlos Cardenas, MD, a gastroenterologist from McAllen, Texas, and TMA Board of Trustees talks about the sea of white coat invasion, better known as First Tuesdays at the Capitol. "We are here to represent our patients and to make Texas a healther place for all Texans."